Penguins Ice the Lightning 3-2

Caron has won all three of his starts and allowed just three goals in 218 minutes over four career appearances. Among his saves was an impressive stop on Martin St. Louis during a short-handed breakaway in the second period.

Wayne Primeau, Alexei Kovalev and Milan Kraft scored for Pittsburgh, which has won the first three games of a five-game road trip.

Pittsburgh center Mario Lemieux sat out for the fourth time in five games because of a nagging groin injury. He left the team for extra treatment Thursday, and is listed as day to day.

Andre Roy and Vincent Lecavalier scored for the Lightning, who were coming off a 7-0 loss Tuesday at Ottawa.

Primeau put the Penguins up 1-0 at 4:01 of the first period.

Kovalev made it 2-0 at 8:08 of the second with his first goal in 12 games.

Kraft gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead at 16:55. Martin Straka set up the goal with a pass from the slot after making several nifty moves.

Lecavalier cut the Lightning deficit to 3-2 with a power-play goal at 9:02 of the third.

John Grahame, acquired from Boston on Jan. 13, made his first start for the Lightning. Tampa Bay rested All-Star goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who is 1-3-1 with an .880 save percentage over his past five games.

Notes:@ Lightning C Brad Richards missed the game because of a death in the family. He had played in 208 consecutive games from the start of his NHL career. … The Penguins snapped a seven-game winless streak (0-5-1-1) at Tampa Bay. Their previous win in Tampa came March 17, 1999. … Tampa Bay D Dan Boyle (broken left index finger) returned after missing four games. … Kovalev had 10 assists during his 11-game goal-scoring drought. … Grahame lost to Pittsburgh for the first time (5-1-1).